Some may call the whole genre immoral dross, but when it comes to reality TV, Australian audiences are a discerning bunch – and watching Nine's Last Resort appears to be just that.
Nine's attempts to follow-up the success of their breakout reality hit Married At First Sight have floundered spectacularly, with their new primetime reality offering suffering a dismal debut.
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Trailer: The Last Resort
Five long-term couples head to 'Hope Island' in a desperate bid to save their relationships while the cameras capture every excruciating minute.
Last Resort - which sends five broken couples to a luxury resort in Fiji for a month, with the apparent premise of counselling them back to love via dinner party shouting matches - opened to just 414,000 viewers (5-city metro) on Tuesday, falling to fourth in its timeslot and failing to make the night's top 20 programs.
Its debut was lower than that of the (then) biggest TV bomb of the year to date, Ten's The Biggest Loser: Transformed, which opened to 450,000 viewers before being dumped to a daytime slot by the network for the remainder of its season.
Last Resort's ratings were as lacklustre on Wednesday evening, picking up just 435,000 viewers in its second outing. Topping the same timeslot, Ten's Masterchef Australia earned 876,000 viewers.
Worse yet, the second episode appeared to jump the shark, with the show's expert relationship coach forcing couples to mock-marry faceless actors in an attempt to make their partners jealous and confront the "reality" of losing them for good.
![Viewers are tuning out of Nine's The Last Resort.](/web/20170513064906im_/http://www.watoday.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/w/w/k/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw2981.png/1494506704322.jpg)
With the stakes so low, the results were quickly ridiculed online, with viewers criticising the manufactured drama and accusing contestants of breaking into crocodile tears for the cameras.
I present Carl's "trying to cry" face#9TheLastResort @9TheLastResort pic.twitter.com/drTDwc790y
— Ashley Vandermaarl (@ashvandermaarl) May 10, 2017
Waiting for the drama like #9TheLastResort pic.twitter.com/XE7whT9L4Y
— Jules LeFevre (@jules_lefevre) May 9, 2017
This is god awful tv.... #9TheLastResort
— Bortles Believer (@AussieJag) May 10, 2017
Adding further sting to the viewer disinterest, the show is an original format produced in-house by Nine Productions, who heavily promoted the series before its premiere on Tuesday, hoping to replicate the regular million-viewer figures that met MAFS earlier this year.
"It's a good show and we believe in it," a Nine spokesperson said, when asked if the show would be bumped from its primetime 7.30pm slot.
"We're buoyed by the fact it grew its audience last night and is remaining competitive in the demos. We said we would take risks with programs and it is what we will continue to do."
The network earned bigger numbers from its 8.30pm offerings on both nights, including Love Child (521,000) on Tuesday and Britain's Got Talent (524,000) on Wednesday, despite the weak lead-in.
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